Erich Hoepner

Erich Hoepner (14 September 1886-8 August 1944) was a Colonel-General of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a veteran of the war with the Soviet Union before he was dismissed for disagreeing with Hitler's orders, and he was executed for his role in the Operation Valkyrie bomb plot.

Biography
Erich Hoepner was born on 14 September 1886 in Frankfurt an der Oder, German Empire. He served as a cavaly officer during World War I, and he reached the rank of General der Infanterie in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in 1936. In 1938, he became commander of the XVI Panzer Corps, and he took part in numerous conspiracies against Hitler, including Hans Oster's planned coup against Hitler if he decided to go to war with Czechoslovakia over the annexation of the Sudetenland - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany would be restored to power.

Hoepner became less critical of Hitler after the successes enjoyed by the army during the early years of World War II, including the brilliant invasions of Poland and France. In 1941, he became the leader of the 4th Panzer Army in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hoepner and Hitler shared common ground in their hopes for a war of annihilation against the USSR, saying that no adherents of the Russian-Bolshevik system should be spared. During the invasion of the USSR, he had warm relations with Franz Walter Stahlecker's Einsatzgruppe A, helping the death squad with massacring Jews and Slavs.

Hoepner was dismissed of command on 5 December 1941 when he ordered his overextended troops to retreat, defying Hitler's orders to continue the advance. In 1942, Hoepner sued the Reich after his pension rights were suspended, and he won the lawsuit. In 1944, Hoepner took part in the Operation Valkyrie bomb plot against Hitler, and he was arrested by the authorities. Unlike many other conspirators, he was not immediately executed, and he was subjected to a show trial in which he was humiliated by having his false teeth confiscated and being forced to wear dirty clothes. Judge Roland Freisler did throw insults at him, but he did object to the guards forcing him to dress in a poor manner. On 8 August 1944, he was executed by hanging in Ploetzensee Prison in Berlin.